Corporate Crimes, Compliance, and Business Ethics

Corporate Crimes, Compliance, and Business Ethics - Professor John Kenagy

• Course Number: LAW-280
• Course Type: Highly Specialized
• Credits: 2
• Enrollment Limit: Determined by the Registrar
• Description:  Enron, Volkswagen, Purdue Pharmaceuticals, Boeing, Binance—corporate brands sullied by illegal and unethical practices. The Department of Justice recovered more than $7.5 billion in 2023 from criminal fraud, False Claims Act violations, and other corporate crimes. Nearly 60 percent of FCA settlements and judgments started with internal whistleblowers. These developments raise many issues for attorneys, whether working for the government, inside businesses, or as outside counsel advising clients. This course familiarizes students with federal civil and criminal laws and regulations focused on corporate entities. It presents the legal area of corporate compliance, initially termed “preventive law,” and business ethics. It explores several elements in depth, including the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations, organizational culture, codes of conduct/ethics, risk oversight, monitoring, and internal investigations. The final term project can serve as a student’s “portfolio” to demonstrate to potential employers that the student has a strong foundation in the subject. This course can qualify as a Writing Intensive Experience.
• Prerequisite: none
• Evaluation Method: Writing assignments
• Capstone: no
• WIE: yes